Firearm suppressors conventionally include a plurality of baffles contained within a cylindrical housing that attaches to the distal end of the gun barrel. The baffles function to reduce the pressure and velocity of propellant gases so as to suppress gun muzzle blasts. An industry-standard baffle is known as a “K” baffle and has been in widespread use since the 1980's. As seen in FIG. 1, a K baffle 100 includes a flat disc-shaped baffle 105 connected to a distally-facing cone 110 such that a cross-sectional view (not illustrated) of baffle 100 is K-shaped. To slow and deflect the propellant gases produced from a fired cartridge, the bore of baffle 100 has slanted sidewalls 115. Propellant gas is thus deflected away from traveling down the bore of cone 110 and behind baffle 105 instead. In this fashion, the gun muzzle blast is effectively muzzled as the explosive pressure wave from an unsuppressed gun blast is transformed into a lower pressure wave of a greater duration.
Although K baffles have proven to be quite popular, a number of problems remain unresolved. For example, a K baffle uses a substantial amount of metal and thus makes the resulting suppressor relatively heavy. In addition, the disc-shaped baffle 105 must seal against the cylindrical housing that contains the baffles such that baffle 105 is aligned orthogonally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical housing. This alignment is difficult to maintain properly during manufacture and is adversely affected by gun blast pressures.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for suppressor baffles that are self-centering and offer reduced weight while improving the gun muzzle blast suppression of conventional K-shaped baffles.